Friday, February 10, 2006

An objective alliance

The BBC WS was leading its news bulletins with this this morning, for some reason.
Malaysia's prime minister [Abdullah Badawi] says a huge chasm has opened between the West and Islam, fuelled by Muslim frustrations over Western foreign policy.
What was on the radio was somewhat different from the story on the web, with mention of the 'levelling of Falluja' and so on.

Another recent report on the BBC (which maddeningly I can't find any trace of on the web) spoke of the debate among neo-cons in America, with some worrying about democracy in the Middle East bringing islamists to power. This position was represented by Daniel Pipes. Others, such as Reuel Marc Gerecht see it as a way of turning islamists away from violence and spoke of the disaster of Algeria in 1991-2.

Even in France, some are beginning to appreciate these nuances. Here's Bernard Guetta ('L’ombre des "Frères" ')
Une dynamique est à l’œuvre et tout se passe, en fait, comme si les Etats-Unis préféraient aider les Frères musulmans à accéder au pouvoir plutôt que de les y voir porter par des révolutions. La Maison-Blanche n’aide pas directement les Frères mais elle leur dégage la voie, lentement mais sûrement, comme si elle voulait séparer les islamistes des djihadistes, faire la part du feu, et disposer, aussi, d’un contrepoids à l’islamisme chiite, celui de l’Iran et maintenant de l’Irak. Signe de cette alliance objective, le site anglophone de la « Confrérie musulmane » est aujourd’hui d’une remarquable modération envers l’Amérique.
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